I have been a birder all of my life. As a kid I kept captive birds and an interest in birds has remained throughout my adult life. Wild birds stole my focus as I grew older and I love watching them in the garden. Our garden is planted full of fruiting trees and we have put up several nestboxes and feeders.
The variety of fruiting trees, including cotoneasters, crab apples and rosehips, regularly bring birds to the garden in winter. Eurasian Bullfinch is a frequent visitor. Working in the week means I don't always get a chance to catch up with the latest happenings until the weekend.
Early on Saturday 9 November, as I sat in my conservatory, a strange, bright yellow bird caught my eye. I didn't have time to look at it properly, however.
Martin and Joanne's mystery bird was lucky to land on a washing line only a few metres from the conservatory window (Joanne Aveyard).
Mystery garden visitor
It was forgotten about until the next morning when the bird was again flitting around the garden. I sat down with my binoculars and watched it. Its behaviour was much the same as the previous day, mainly moving through the apple trees that fringed the garden. It was solitary and immediately stood out due to its vibrant yellow plumage and unusual, quick movements. It reminded me of a flycatcher, darting from one tree or shrub to another, but always staying within the confines of the garden. As I watched it, I began to notice other features, including the black legs, black wings and a pinkish bill.
I am familiar with British birds and knew that it was something unusual. My daughter, Joanne, came over a short while later and was equally curious about what the garden visitor might be. It wasn't something either of us was familiar with. We started getting the books out, although flicking through European field guides left us in the dark about its identity.
By sheer luck, the bird almost immediately landed on our washing line, only a few metres from the side of the conservatory. I'm not very tech-savvy but Joanne is, and she instantly grabbed her phone and took a series of photographs of the strange garden visitor. From these, we suspected that it might be an unusual visitor from North America, perhaps an off-season Scarlet Tanager or American Goldfinch.
A wee video of the Scarlet Tanager at Shelf, Halifax from Tuesday. #yorkshirebirding #ukbirding pic.twitter.com/yQ3Kvf5sdv
— Gavin Orr (@gaviniorr) November 14, 2024
Scarlet Tanager looking at home in rosehips (Gavin Orr).
ID request
Joanne was confident that someone on the internet might know what it was and took to Facebook, posting the photos on a group of more than 50,000 members called 'Dull Men's Club – UK Chapter'. Several comments were supportive of the bird being a Scarlet Tanager. This came as a bit of a shock!
A few members suggested that we should let the BTO know about our garden visitor and pointed us toward BirdTrack while, later that evening, Sam Viles from BirdGuides messaged agreeing with the identification. He informed us that it was only the eighth record for Britain and the first for Yorkshire. Learning that it was a mega rarity from North America, I had visions of millions of twitchers with big lenses turning up outside.
I was back at work on Monday and missed out on most of the excitement, but our neighbours on the street behind received hundreds of birders hoping to catch sight of the Scarlet Tanager. Some opened up their gardens to twitchers or brought out cups of tea to raise money for BBC Children in Need.
The first-winter male Scarlet Tanager represented the first record for Yorkshire of this North American breeder (Hep Cairnswood).
American vagrant
The tanager seemed to be roosting and feeding in the garden, showing mostly in the morning before disappearing for much of the day and appearing again later in the afternoon. It spent most of its time in the garden among the fruiting bushes and crab apples. It would also visit a feeder full of sunflower hearts.
My daughter, Joanne, deserves most of the credit. If it hadn't been for Joanne taking the photos and putting them out there, we would have been none the wiser.
Never before seen in Yorkshire, the first-winter male Scarlet Tanager is just the eighth British record and the first since 2014. Have you seen it? Let us know 👇
— BirdGuides (@BirdGuides) November 11, 2024
(If you want to know the exact location of where to find it, sign up for BirdGuides today: https://t.co/1zgmgRnvGB) pic.twitter.com/AyCTXfKUD9
The Scarlet Tanager prompted a mass twitch and sparked press interest from across the globe (Wayne Glossop).
- Keep up to date with by-the-minute sightings updates of rarities and significant birds in your local area at www.birdguides.com/sightings or via the BirdGuides app. New users are entitled to a one-month free trial.
